The present invention concerns a hydraulic dashpot or shock absorber for motor vehicles. It comprises a cylinder and a piston. The cylinder contains fluid. The piston travels back and forth inside the cylinder on the end of a piston rod. The rod extends through a package of gaskets that maintains it aligned and seals the cylinder. The rod is attached to the vehicle body or wheel assembly by a projecting-bolt joint. The joint (5) includes resiliently yielding components that suppress impact and vibration by way of an automatic snap-together attachment to the vehicle body or wheel assembly.
A telescoping dashpot and a shock absorber with a projecting-bolt suspension is known from German OS 3 741 465 A1. The joint comprises a threaded bolt, a flat support, a rubber component, and a cylindrical spacer. The support rests against the joint and against the cylinder or piston rod. The rubber component is in one or two parts and rests against the support. The spacer and bolt extend through the rubber component and rest against the support. The rubber component is tensioned by a retaining or tensioned by a washer and nut. The point of articulation to the body of wheel assembly in this embodiment is between the two halves of the rubber component. Before the dashpot can be installed in the vehicle, accordingly, the nut must be removed, the joint taken apart, and the dashpot introduced into the vehicle and reassembled.
A forward-axle shock absorber with a different genus of projecting-bolt suspension is known from German Patent 4 010 858. The suspension rests on a resilient bearing that the vehicle body or superstructure can be attached to. A helical spring around the shock absorber rests against a cup-shaped spring on the bearing. The bearing itself rests directly against an annular bearing and cylindrical spacer on the piston rod. A rubber and metal ball-and-socket joint surrounds the piston rod, extends into the cup-shaped spring, and is forced against its bottom. The ball-and-socket joint includes a bearing pot that projects out of the cup-shaped spring and is flanged to the vehicle's superstructure and body.
German Patent 3 823 238 describes a resilient bearing that supports a shock absorber with a dashpot. The rubber-to-metal interface is surrounded by a cylindrical holder. The holder includes an exterior flange that can be screwed to the vehicle body.
Common to all these embodiments, however, is the drawback that they are relatively complicated to assemble and must be installed in a manufacturing procedure comprising several operations. German 3 302 057 discloses a resilient bearing for a shock absorber with two resilient components, one of which can be knobbed, meaning snapped, into a bearing block through a constriction in an associated hole in the body during assembly.
This approach, however, also has a drawback. The consistency and resilience of the rubber must essentially be adjusted to the knobbing requirements. The result is a not always satisfactory compromise in relation to how much vibration and impact can be suppressed.